Lewis' Slam Keeps Giants Alone in 1st

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, July 30, 1997

So what if it's a race? The Giants -- who haven't budged from the National

League West lead since May 12 -- showed last night they're willing to put up a terrific fight to stay in first place.

With the Dodgers' 3-1 victory over the Pirates staring at them on the outfield scoreboard, the Giants bore down and fought from behind against a possible postseason opponent. With the Giants down 2-0 in the bottom of the seventh, Mark Lewis drilled a line-drive grand slam off Mets reliever Greg McMichael into the bleachers in left field to put the Giants in front.

Shawn Estes, in his finest performance since the All-Star break, slammed the door on New York in the eighth inning, and Rod Beck picked up his 32nd save as the Giants prevailed 5-2 before 14,949 at 3Com Park -- a crucial victory that maintained the Giants' division lead at one game over Los Angeles.

"We needed to win," said manager Dusty Baker, noting that San Diego and Colorado both lost. "Shawny pitched great. We didn't start the game too well. But our guys had a good attitude. They didn't say, 'Here we go again.' They said, 'That's all they're going to get.' "

Certainly that's what Estes thought after giving up both Mets' runs in the first inning. "I came into the dugout and said to myself, 'I feel pretty good physically and mentally, and I'm going to put up zeroes the rest of the game,' " said Estes, who picked up his second win since the break, raising his record to 14-4.

Estes cashed in, maybe because of the $10 he picked up Saturday from Dick Pole. The Giants' pitching coach told Estes he'd pay him five bucks for every five locked- in, at-the-knees, paint-the-corner pitches he could produce in a row during practice. "I lost money on the deal," said Pole, who wanted Estes to recover his concentration.

"A lot of it has been battling mental fatigue -- he's never started this many games consecutively in his life," Pole said. "But he was awesome tonight. He was special tonight."

So was Lewis, who broke the ice on what had been a Giants' logjam on the bases all night. Heading into the seventh, the Giants had stranded eight runners.

Stan Javier started it off with a one-out walk, and Barry Bonds, who went 3-for-4, drove him in with a two-out double off Mets starter Brian Bohanon. Jeff Kent fought McMichael for walk and Glenallen Hill hit an infield single to load the bases for Lewis.

The third baseman had endured a rough week and was hitless in his last 11 at-bats when he strode to the plate. He got a break when McMichael took the count to 3-0. Lewis sat on one strike and then drilled a high fastball for his second career grand slam, the sixth of the season for the Giants.

"I've been in those situations for the last week and I haven't come through," said Lewis, whose only other grand slam came when he played for Cincinnati, during the 1995 divisional playoffs against the Dodgers. "I was just telling myself, 'This is it. It's going to either make me or break me.' "

Before the game, the Giants completed a minor-league trade, picking up right- handed reliever Cory Bailey from the Texas Rangers in exchange for Triple-A left- hander Chad Hartvigson. Bailey, 26, who has pitched for the Red Sox and Cardinals, will be assigned to Phoenix as a non-roster player.